Com_St_2011_07_28_NotteGreenRegolamento_ENG.pdf
Goblets of Stars will be held at Contessa Entellina on 10th August, where an excellent vintage is ripening. A festival of quality wines promoting the environment and wine tourism.
Cork manufacturer, Amorim Cork Italia, and tour operator, CTS Viaggi, are Donnafugata’s partners for promoting sustainable development
Quality wines that are good for the environment and open up a future of sustainability and development for the area: this is Donnafugata in Sicily, confirmed by the topic chosen for the evening of the 10th August on occasion of event Goblets of Stars, summer appointment of the Wine Tourism Movement.
An environmentally friendly evening at the Contessa Entellina estate, in the very heart of western Sicily, where Chardonnay has been harvested by night for the past 13 years in order to preserve the full aromatic content of the grapes and save the energy used to cool them.
Over 10 years of good practice (energy saving, clean energy, sustainable agriculture) have found new drive and motivation in the working relationship with both Amorim Cork, one of the top cork manufacturers in the world and strongly committed to sustainability, and CTS Viaggi, a leading tour operator offering naturalistic itineraries, which aims to invest in quality wine tourism, too.
On 10th August, night of the shooting stars, the Donnafugata estate will be open to the wine-loving public for a visit focused on sustainability and excellent production.
The novelty this year is that the wine lovers themselves will become leading figures of the sustainability project by collecting and bringing Donnafugata the largest number of corks they can. A bottle of La Fuga Chardonnay will be presented to anyone who brings at least a 100 corks in, an award for the most active collectors!
Donnafugata has, in fact, adhered to the collecting campaign launched by Amorim Cork, which succeeded in recycling 43 million corks in 2010. CTS Viaggi will also do its part, by organising collection points in 10 agencies in the largest Italian cities. Every agency adhering to the campaign will award a bottle La Fuga Chardonnay to anyone who hands in at least 100 corks by 30th November 2011! (see “100 corks and uncork” rules below).
Corks are 100% recyclable and Amorim Cork Italia, a company strongly committed to reducing CO² emissions, organises the collection of corks, using them to manufacture products with high added value such as those for bio-furnishing and green housing (sound absorbent and thermal insulation panels, and so forth).
A working relationship with CTS Viaggi has been established to promote the land of Sicily by offering a range of itineraries in and around the Donnafugata estates in Marsala, Contessa Entellina and Pantelleria. A number of local hotels and restaurants have also been included in the network, making wine-tourism a means of development and the Goblets of Stars event the high point.
“Visitors to Goblets of Stars,” declared Antonio Rallo from Donnafugata, “will see that our vines are doing very well. Here in the hills of Contessa Entellina, we are recording a pleasantly Sicilian vintage thanks to the steady climate trend we’ve enjoyed until now. The vines are thriving and we’re confident they’ll bear top quality grapes. The Chardonnay grapes, usually the first variety we pick, have almost reached the ripening stage and who knows, we might be able to start harvesting on 10th August. In any case, wine lovers will be able to try a few grapes and taste just how sweet they are.”
Donnafugata’s commitment to the environment began over 10 years ago. “We started here, in Contessa Entellina, with the night harvest,” explains Josè Rallo from Donnafugata, “and then the photovoltaic panels came, installing 118 Kw. In 2011, sustainability of our production activities increased further through a number of partnerships, too. Donnafugata and a group of premium wine producers decided to compensate CO² emissions by planting a 5 hectare wood of cork-oaks in Sardinia. Amorim Cork Italia and Donnafugata share the idea that cork is a value for the quality of our wines, too, and together we want to spread the culture of recycling. With CTS Viaggi, we’re testing out a working relationship which makes sustainable wine-tourism more and more of a development factor for the area. Together, we want to promote a lifestyle which focuses increasingly more on sustainability.”
Public Relations:
Baldo M. Palermo [email protected] tel. 0039 0923 7242267
Laura Ellwanger [email protected] te. 0039 0923 724258
